Chromium now offers a Global Media Controls user interface in the toolbar, which helps you to control all the media played in Chrome. So, for example, if you're watching a YouTube video or a series on Netflix, you'll be able to control one or all of the items from a single button. The functionality works on Chrome 79 without activating an experimental indicator. In this article, we will explain how to enable or disable global media playback control in Chrome.
Global media playback control in Chrome
Although we already have the option to mute any audio or video playback in one of the tabs, but the implementation of Global multimedia playback control in Chrome is another level. Since this feature is enabled by default, you should see a music icon next to your profile when a video starts playing. Click it, and it will display the playback control for all video playback.
However, the option to skip to the next or previous video differs from one website to another.
For example, YouTube offers almost a mini player with pause, next, previous, a thumbnail for the video and a title for the video. On the other hand, Netflix and Facebook only offer a pause and play button. This will change once more and more and more websites will start to implement the schema required for read controls.
This feature is still being deployed. This was reported in December and I have only been able to see it now. Once available to you, it will ask you for a notification as soon as you play a video.
<img class = "ezlazyload aligncenter size-full wp-image-200987″ alt=”New Chrome Music Control” width=”380″ height=”178″ sizes=”(max-width: 380px) 100vw, 380px” ezimgfmt=”ng ngcb14 src srcset” src=”https://www.thewindowsclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/New-Music-Control-Chrome.png” srcset=”https://www.thewindowsclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/New-Music-Control-Chrome.png 380w,https://www.thewindowsclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/New-Music-Control-Chrome-150×70.png 150w”/>
If you can't see it or want to turn off global media playback control in Chrome, follow these steps:
- Open a new tab and type chrome: // flags
- In the search field, type Global multimedia playback control
- When the indicator appears, click the default button to change it to on or off.
If you disable it, you will no longer be able to see the control. This feature will also be available in Microsoft Edge Chromium (version 79). From now on, it can be activated using the flag.
It is worth noting that if you click on the volume icon to mute one of the video playback tabs, the Global Media Playback Control icon will be disabled. This happens when there is no other media paused or playing.
Overall, I think this is a practical feature. If you open a large number of web pages with media playback, you can play and pause them from a single command button.